SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO, Calif., Aug 09, 2012 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- Nodality, Inc. today announced a strategic collaboration with Pfizer Inc. for the use of Nodality's proprietary Single Cell Network Profiling (SCNP) technology as a tool for the development of Pfizer compounds. The agreement establishes a multi-year, collaborative effort that will initially focus on providing biological bases for streamlining the development of potential Pfizer compounds for autoimmune disease with an initial focus on Lupus, including characterizing mechanisms of action, disease analysis, and drug profiling. The agreement also provides Pfizer the option to engage Nodality in companion diagnostics development. The terms of the agreement include an upfront payment, R&D funding, and success-based milestone payments.

Michael Goldberg, Executive Chairman and Interim Chief Executive Officer of Nodality said, "We are excited to be working with Pfizer's world class autoimmune R&D groups to enhance their drug development activities. This collaboration, which is Nodality's second major strategic pharma partnership this year, provides continuing validation of the value the SCNP platform technology can bring to drug development. We look forward to a productive and collaborative relationship with Pfizer's R&D teams."

Jose-Carlos Gutierrez-Ramos, Senior Vice President, BioTherapeutics R&D at Pfizer said, "Our partnership with Nodality exemplifies Pfizer's commitment to Precision Medicine by providing us with earlier insight into a compound's potential clinical profile, which can help reduce attrition rates, accelerate development and improve patient targeting. There is a tremendous patient need for new medicines that can impact the pathophysiology of autoimmune diseases."

Pfizer Venture Investments has been an investor in Nodality since 2008.

About Nodality

Nodality is a venture-backed, South San Francisco-based personalized medicine biotechnology company focused on improving the development and clinical use of therapeutics in cancer and autoimmune disease through the application of its proprietary Single Cell Network Profiling (SCNP) technology platform. SCNP enables functional characterization of disease-associated signaling at the individual patient level, enabling optimization of treatment tailored to target the biology driving the disease. Nodality is applying SCNP to develop molecular diagnostics to improve clinical decision-making in cancer and autoimmune diseases, with the lead products targeting treatment management in hematological malignancies. Nodality is also collaborating with Pharma partners on patient stratification & companion diagnostics development, drug & disease profiling, determination of mechanism of action, mechanism-based competitive differentiation, whole blood PD assays, and biomarker discovery & development. These applications can result in increased probability of success, reduced timeline for clinical development, and differentiation from competitors in the marketplace.

About Single Cell Network Profiling

Single Cell Network Profiling (SCNP) is a proprietary technology licensed from Stanford University to characterize cell signaling networks in patients with cancer and autoimmune diseases. SCNP, by measuring functional signaling network behavior at the level of the single cell, has several advantages over other currently used molecular technologies. These include unprecedented insight into the presence and clinical meaning of functional cellular heterogeneity in otherwise molecularly and phenotypically homogeneous tissues, including the identification of rare cell subsets such as drug-resistant and stem cells. As such, the technology has widespread application in both molecular diagnostic development as well as preclinical and clinical drug development.